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Nicholson Museum

The Nicholson Museum is Australia's oldest university museum and home to the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere. Our gallery is located in the historic Main Quadrangle at the University of Sydney and open to the general public. Admission is free.

The museum was founded in 1860 following the donation by Sir Charles Nicholson, the University’s second chancellor (1854-62), of his private collection of antiquities and curiosities. Since then the museum has been overseen by eight curators, all with different expertise and vision for the development of its collections.

The museum has grown in size and scope, today comprising nearly 30,000 artefacts of artistic and archaeological significance from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Near East.

From the intriguing to the macabre, the Nicholson Museum provides insight into the minds of the archaeologists, collectors and curators who have contributed to making our museum a unique Australian cultural institution.